


Thick Thighs Save Lives

by hiddencait



Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Oh No He's Hot, Other Ronins appearing in the background, likely OOC Shin but then who isn't when they have their first gay crush?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28118682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait
Summary: In which, all joking aside, Shuu has no idea how hot he is, and Shin has absolutely no chill.
Relationships: Mouri Shin | Cye Mouri/Shuu Rei Fuan | Kento Rei Fang
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Thick Thighs Save Lives

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ryuutchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuutchi/gifts).



> So I saw your request and could NOT resist writing these two. I agree Shuu totally deserves to get some appreciation, and while I haven't read the fics you mentioned, I hope this has the kind of off beat humorous tone you were hoping for! It's entirely possible (read honestly I'm aware it's entirely likely) Shin is out of character a bit (this is what happens when I start writing a fic before I actually finish the series, but what can you do?) but the voice and tone just jumped into my head with the title and here we are.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Also just FYI, I'm more familiar with the dubbed names since that's the version I've got my hands on, so I wrote it in that version & then switched the names over to the Japanese ones. Hopefully I haven't missed any but please forgive me if I did!

Shin hadn’t noticed at first, which, in retrospect: _how the hell had he not noticed?_

In his defense, there hadn’t been much time or energy to notice much of anything back when they all first met, aside from how creepy the city looked blanketed in unhealthy clouds and without any people but them and the little boy and the lady with the legends and all.

If Shin’d noticed Shuu at all, it was only in a vague “I’m glad the hothead’s on our side” and “how exactly had he managed to make three scavenged protein bars and a couple of rice cakes feel like enough to feed all of them… especially with his appetite?” sort of way.

Shuu was there; he was in armor; and, Shin hoped, he and the others might actually manage to win this thing.

Then they did – or thought they did – and they were still all together in something like a team and something closer to a family. They stayed with Nasuti as much out of relief not to have to think about where they were staying than out of any plan. Shin wasn’t sure how he’d talk to his mom about where he’d been and why. And until Ryou woke up, it wasn’t like he was leaving, so it was just… easier to stay where the others were. Where Shuu was, though he didn’t really know why that in particular mattered.

The sparring started out as a good idea overall, a way both to keep themselves sharp while keeping close to a still unconscious Ryou and – and Shin still wasn’t sure how this became his responsibility – keep Shuu from causing too much trouble. They were all stir crazy, of course; Shuu was just… more so.

So yeah, sparring. He and Shuu turned out to be fairly evenly matched even if their personal strengths were completely at odd with Shin’s lithe flexibility and speed contrasting with Shuu’s solid physical strength. The acrobatics started as a lark. They were bored, honestly. Plain old hand to hand seemed rather less exciting when one had fought mythical monsters with their own mythical armor and bonus mythical weapons not long ago. Adding in the tumbling just kept them focused.

The first few times Shin had thrown himself into a flip up and over Shuu only to be caught with little visible effort, he’d been… not surprised exactly, but taken aback by just how easy it appeared to be. He’d know the other teen was strong, but surely not _that_ strong. So he’d up the ante, challenging the other to more and more difficult catches and throws of his smaller self, and eventually what else was there but to see if Shuu could do it one handed?

But then he _did._

And Shin found himself looking down the length of Shuu’s body and wondering just when the other man’s jeans had gotten so tight around his thighs. Shuu’d caught him with barely a grunt in response to all of Shin’s weight, with Shuu’s own body settled down on his spread legs, the muscles in them _far_ more prominent from this angle than Shin’d expected.

He just _noticed_ was all. It wasn’t like he was _looking_ exactly.

Only then Ryou had called down that they were “looking good,” and well… were they? Was Shuu? Was Ryou _looking_ or had he just _noticed?_ Did Shuu think _Shin_ was looking good?

It was a relief to find himself flung back through the air to land on the ground a few feet away. Shin needed a moment to just… not. So he didn’t. At all. Nothing. Nothing had happened, and he was doing nothing. Right. Absolutely.

Luckily – _‘luckily’ yeah right_ – yet another round of Dynasty goons showed up to bother them and harass Ryou and then they had to find him new weapons and then the kidnappings happened which really the least thought about that the better and and and…

Really the Dynasty goons were _always_ bothering them, it seemed like. Shin was pretty sure the Netherworld as a whole needed some hobbies or something. Anything to get them to leave his world – and his friends – alone for a while.

And then, like a damn miracle, they did.

Well, a few were still hanging around obviously, but Shin figured Kayura and the others had turned out all right. Ish. Mostly. As long as they weren’t trying to kill Shin’s friends anymore, he’d not be forced to fight them. That seemed almost good enough.

The only downside to the apparent end to the battles was that Shin finally had the energy to _notice_ Shuu again, drat it all.

And damned if Shuu didn’t seem to keep just spending time with him. With the others too, of course, but to Shin it seemed like they were hanging out a lot. Hitting the arcades, going to movies, sparring – as always and likely forever at this point because none of them were comfortable just trusting that the world was permanently Netherworld free – and, of course with Shuu planning their outings, eating.

The man was _always_ hungry. Touma had a theory that something about Hardrock and his connection to the earth boosted his metabolism or something. Ryou with his fire based abilities was the same way with just burning through calories faster than he could eat them – when he wasn’t so depressed and guilty he forgot to eat in the first place which… gods they all need therapy like how but it wasn’t as if they could find someone who wouldn’t think they were suffering from a really detailed shared delusion.

In any case, the theory – read excuse though it honestly might have been to explain _Touma’s_ appetite too not that anyone admitted they realized that to Touma – did put Shuu’s ability to share with the others way back when they’d been stuck in the city during Talpa’s first appearance into a new light. He must have been damned near starving on the shared vending machine rations, but he’d never made a complaint – not until they were safely out of harm’s way for the time being. But now that they were free? Now that they had access to normal restaurants and stores? Oh yeah, he was _definitely_ making up for lost time.

They hit street vendors and little corner stores and tucked away mom and pop ramen shops and high end sushi shops. They hit up fast food joints and the kind of frilly pink over the top dessert establishments Shin wouldn’t normally dare be caught in as a guy but always desperately wanted to try.

They ate everything. And every place they went just… _loved_ Shuu.

It became the running joke when they took the rest of the guys with them, the way every waitress and host seemed to know Shuu – and much more rarely Shin – by name and often order, though he tended to try new things with the whole group and only go back for his favorites when it was just him and Shin.

At one of those bigger get-togethers, the _noticing_ happened again. Shin blamed Seiji who started all of it by demanding to know how the hell Shuu managed to get incredible service every. Single. Place. They went. Granted Seiji wasn’t the best at talking to strangers, especially those who were _not_ dudes, which meant he had a terrible time with waitresses. Shin guessed he could understand why the other teen would be so baffled by Shuu’s ability to speak to anyone and everyone and have their entire life story out of them in under five minutes.

“Still, just… how?” Seiji tried again. “How do you get them talking and flirting so easily?”

Shin wondered about the flirting part himself, not that he’d ask.

“Aw come on man! Everybody wants a piece of this!” Clearly amused at the questions, Shuu just stretched his solid arms out wide across the back of the booth, flexing deliberately and waggling his eyebrows at Seiji who merely rolled his eyes. “But seriously man, just make eye contact and _ask them their names._ It’s that simple. You always look down when a girl approaches, dude.”

Shin was just glad Shuu was looking at anyone but him. He knew damned well his eyes were likely approaching “deer in the headlights” after the aforementioned flexing, and Shuu casually settling his arm _across the booth behind Shin_ like it was _nothing_ was _not helping._

His skin was _not_ designed to hide a blush. This was _terrible._ He ducked his head behind his drink, hoping to let the red fade before anyone noticed. Across the rim of the glass though, Touma was looking right at him. And there was a knowing glint in his eyes that made Shin blush even harder.

But no, it was just Touma. Dude’s IQ was off the charts. He _always_ had that knowing glint in his eyes. It was fine. Shin was fine. Really.

He took another drink and tried desperately to ignore how Shuu’s leg was pressed against his thanks to the small size of the booth.

It was fine. He. Was. Fine.

Across the table, Touma smirked. Shin ignored him. Everything was fine.

He might have stayed fine – honestly he was Touma, quick giving him that look! – except for The Date. It probably didn’t deserve capital letters, but every time Shuu mentioned that one of the waitresses at their favorite diner had asked him to dinner and a movie, Shin could only hear it in his head with said capital letters. It was fine though; it wasn’t like it mattered that Shuu’d been asked out by an older girl, one pretty and with long legs and all together a bit less waif-like than Shin felt standing next to the stockier Shuu which was a little humiliating when he thought about it considering Shin was older than his friend so mostly he didn’t think about it. Really he didn’t.

It. Didn’t. Matter. Shuu was his friend; Shin should be thrilled for him getting asked out – not even having to put in the effort to make the move himself, just asked by the girl like it was nothing.

He’d almost managed to convince himself of that when Shuu’d come down the stairs at Nasuti’s place – as soon as it was known Shuu had a date, the others had insisted they all congregate there for the weekend in order for Seiji (as the only one of them with something approaching style) to make sure Shuu was dressed and that they all could then heckle him as he left.

But Seiji had dressed Shuu. Seiji, who apparently agreed with Shin’s unspoken thoughts about how well jeans showed him off because the damned things looked painted on his thighs and butt and… The nice button up shirt didn’t help either as it was possibly half a size too small in Shin’s opinion considering how it looked around Shuu’s shoulders and arms, making them look even larger than they normally did and just –

He managed to hold it together long enough to wish his best friend well and pretend to laugh at the others’ jokes, but once Shuu’d driven off with the power of his shiny new driver’s license, Shin left the house at something of a run, knowing full well there was no hiding the fact that it was a full on panicked retreat and that at least one of the guys was likely to follow him to ask – read interrogate – just want his problem was.

He hoped it wasn’t Touma.

“You’re not subtle, you know.”

Of _course_ it was Touma. The universe hated him. Shin was sure of it. He didn’t bother to respond to the other teen, continued down the path towards the lake, wanting water to hopefully sooth his mood or if all else failed to attempt to drown himself in. Touma couldn’t talk at him if he was at the bottom of the lake, now could he?

Sadly, Touma caught up with him before he could decide whether he was jumping into the lake or not, so it looked like Shin was just… stuck, listening to whatever it was his friend had to say. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“Look I think we all know you like him by now, dude.”

OK it could absolutely be that bad. Shin could feel that damned inescapable blush creeping up again, this time with a pounding in his chest that might technically be panic, not that he’d admit it. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked anywhere by at Touma, hoping maybe if Shin pretended he didn’t exist, he would go away.

Touma sighed. “Dude, sit down before you fall down.” He shoved at Shin’s shoulder, forcing him to sit down at the water’s edge – likely knowing it was just that much more difficult to dive from that position than it was standing up. Shin could do it though. If he had to. He was debating. “You are _not_ going in the lake. We need to talk about this, all right?”

“Can’t we just not and say we didn’t?” Shin dropped his head to his chest. “It’s fine as it is. No need to rock the boat.”

“No need except you’re pining, and it sucks to watch.”

“I’m not… pining. I don’t pine.” He didn’t. Shin was sure he didn’t. He was not admitting to pining. Or anything else relating to this conversation that he still wasn’t having.

Touma scoffed. “Sure you don’t.” He shook his head. “Look, what’s the worst that can happen if you just say something to him? I mean really?”

“He’s my friend and if he decided not to –”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Touma broke in. “This is Shuu we’re talking about. Has he ever given any indication that there’s a damn thing you could do to ruin your friendship? Hell, I’m not sure you could get rid of him if you tried.”

Shin tried not to panic at the sound of that name actually getting spoken in this particular context. “I know you think nothing will change if he doesn’t – I mean if I said – and he – I mean…”

“You are all tangled up about this, aren’t you?” Touma said after a moment, his eyes kind the way they rarely were around anyone but their little group of warriors and misfits.

“Yeah.” Shin nodded helplessly. “It’s just… he _matters_. You all do. And this could, could mess everything up. We all just got ourselves back to normal.”

“Or as normal as we get, anyway,” Touma agreed. “You’re right. It could change things.” Shin had his mouth open to say that was the point entirely and if Touma knew that then why bother ambushing him for this talk in the first place, when Touma went on. “But change doesn’t have to be bad. I mean, seriously. Worst case scenario, you tell him but he doesn’t return the feeling, and things are a little awkward for a while until you get over him and the friendship goes back to normal. Because honestly, I do think that’s the worst case. You’re not going to lose him, and neither of you are going to lose us.”

“You say that now…”

“Yeah, I do,” Touma said with that self-assured way of his that currently made Shin want to smack him. “And just… Look, if that’s the worst case, think about what the best case could be.”

Shin flexed his hands against his knees and eyed the lake again, knowing he still wouldn’t make it if Touma didn’t want him to. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, to even _think_ about what that mythic best case might be.

Touma sighed. “Look, all I’m asking is this: if he comes back tonight and doesn’t seem thrilled about this girl he went with, you tell him how you feel. Think you can do that?” Shin gave him a dubious look, and Touma huffed. “Fine then, I’m not giving you the option. Tell him how you feel. Promise me.”

Shin kept his mouth stubbornly closed and tried to avoid meeting Touma’s eyes. The asshole always could stare him down. And would stare him down, Shin realized as his friend huffed again and moved himself directly into Shin’s line of sight, forcing him to look back at him. “Promise me.” He stared harder, and Shin squirmed, finally looking away in submission. “Promise. Me.”

“All right already. All right.” His voice sounded annoyingly small even to his own ears. “I promise. If this date wasn’t awesome, I’ll – I’ll tell him I’m into him.”

Finally, finally Touma smiled. “Good. You do that. I’m heading in for the night.”

With that, he rose and strode off, clearly more than proud of himself, the asshole.

Shin continued to sit by the lake, watching the water and wondering which way he was hoping the rest of his night was going to go. But he couldn’t pretend the conversation hadn’t happened now, could he? He knew full well Touma wouldn’t let him. And that meant he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t _looking_ anymore either.

“This _sucks_.”

Full dark fell, and not long after, he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching the house again and knew it was Shuu and thus time to face the music. 

Shuu was inside by the time Shin got back to the house. The other teen was already settled on the couch, his nice shirt untucked and rolled haphazardly up to the elbows to keep the sleeves out of the spoon and carton in his hands.

“Mm, that’s what I needed.” Shuu all but moaned around the bite of whatever flavor of ice cream it was he’d picked up on the way back to Nasuti’s. “Mm, mm, _mm_.”

Shin resisted the urge to turn and go right back outside. That was the other... uh… _issue_ with spending so much time with Shuu and food. The sounds the man made when he ate were so damned _indecent._ It made one think about whether or not he’d make those sounds at other times with other particular things in this mouth.

It. Was. Not. Helping.

Shin composed himself. He’d promised Touma he wouldn’t chicken out. No matter how hard – heh _hard_ oh hell Shin _focus_ – Shuu made it for him to actually get out the words.

“Didn’t you just get back? Did you not eat?” Shin managed to ask, doing his best to ignore another satisfied hum from Shuu as he wrapped his lips around the spoon, making sure he got all of it.

Once he swallowed, Shuu frowned a little. “I mean, we had dinner. Didn’t feel like staying for dessert if you know what I mean.”

Shin’s stomach twisted in knots. So much for hoping – _hoping?_ – the date had gone well enough that he wouldn’t have to face his promise to Touma. “Not uh – not looking for another date with her then, huh?”

“No, not really.” Shuu shrugged, then squinted at Shin. “You feeling all right? You got a weird look on your face.”

“I’m uh…” Shin trailed off as Shuu took another bite, this time wrapping his wet lips around the spoon and pulling it free with a pop. Shin stared. “Oh for fuck’s sake.”

He stalked forward to a now clearly taken aback Shuu, grabbed his shirt in his fists, leaned forward and kissed him hard, channeling all that aggravated attraction into it as best he could. Shin pulled back and looked at Shuu, finding him staring back at him with wide eyes. Shin took a breath, in and out, hands still clenched in fabric. “I like you. A lot. It’s obnoxious how much I like you.”

Shuu blinked, once, twice. “Oh.” He grinned. “Ohhhh. Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

It was Shin’s turn to blink, nonplussed at the anticlimactic response. “Wait, what?”

“Shin, I’ve had a thing for you forever. I wasn’t being shy about it. I mean yeah, we’re friends, but I wasn’t asking all the other guys out to eat as often as I could, now was I?” He shrugged, his grin wide, then reached around Shin to toss the spoon and ice cream carton onto the coffee table. “I just figured you were straight since you never said anything about it. It’s the only reason I went out with Noriko tonight. Trying to get myself over you. Thought you’d been letting me down easy or something.”

“Though I’d been…” Shin reluctantly let go with one of his hands long enough to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Shuu, have those been dates? Have we – have we been dating for _months_ without you telling me?”

Shuu’s smile went cagey and almost a little ashamed as he eyed him. “I mean, I thought we were, but if you didn’t, I mean, that’s fine too, I guess? We don’t have to –”

Shin cut him off with another hard kiss. “Shut up. Just. Just. Stop. Talking.”

“Whatever you say.” Shuu smiled against his mouth and kissed him back. He reached out and grabbed Shin’s hips and with an easy tug that took no effort with his strength, he pulled Shin forward and onto his lap.

Onto that lap and those _damned_ thighs. Almost giddy with the thought, Shin let himself fall into Shuu, kissing him for all he was worth.

Now, he’d just have to deal with Touma’s inevitable “I told you so.” But he could handle that, Shin decided. He could handle damned near anything just as long as he got to stay right where he was, straddling those thighs and wrapped up in Shuu’s muscular arms.

They were _definitely_ looking good, he thought smugly.


End file.
